Pease ANG hosts team of aircraft rotating from Middle East

PORTSMOUTH — Pease Air National Guard Base hosted 13 aircraft and 75 personnel overnight Sunday which were making a scheduled rotation after spending time in the Middle East.

PORTSMOUTH — Pease Air National Guard Base hosted 13 aircraft and 75 personnel overnight Sunday which were making a scheduled rotation after spending time in the Middle East.

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Davis, of the ANG, could not say exactly where they were coming from due to security reasons, but said the aircraft landed in Portsmouth throughout the day on Sunday, starting in late morning and ending later in the afternoon.

According to a statement he issued, the following aircraft spent the night at Pease: six F-22 “Raptor” fighters, which use “stealth technology” and are the “most sophisticated fighter aircraft ever built,” one C-17 “Globemaster III” cargo aircraft, which carries maintenance equipment, parts and personnel, three KC-10 “Extender” air refueling aircraft and three KC-135 “Stratotanker” air refueling aircraft.

“They kind of fly like a package,” Davis said about the way the aircraft take off for deployment and then return home. “The fighters follow the tankers and make their way across the ocean using a series of refuelings.”

The scheduled rotation they made at Pease on Sunday, according to Davis, is like a stop during a road trip.

“The fighter pilots will fly a certain stretch, spend the night and then continue their travels,” he said.The fighters have a limited range for flying, so when deployed, they require support from air refueling and maintenance crews.

“That package of flights flew overseas together and rotated back to the U.S. returning home from a scheduled deployment,” Davis said. “The units will rotate in and out.”

Pease is a popular stop during a rotation due to its large aircraft parking ramp.

According to a public statement, “a planning cell at the base is one of five air force-wide that plans these moves and Pease coordinates over 100 per year for U.S. and Allied nations.”

Of the thirteen aircraft that stopped at Pease, just one was New Hampshire based.

According to Davis, just one of the three KC-135's calls Pease home. On Monday morning, the rest of the aircraft flew home to air force bases scattered across the United States.

One of the C-17's departed home to Elmendorf, Alaska, while some flew to March Air Reserve in California. The six F-22 “Raptor” fighters went to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.